When I first started learning Mandarin Chinese, I pronounced the hanyu pinyin ‘b,’ ‘d,’ and ‘g’ like the way we say them at the beginning of words in English like ‘boy,’ ‘dog,’ and ‘got.’ However, the first university I taught at was called ‘Tunghai’, written ‘Donghai’ in pinyin. Taipei is written ‘Taibei’ in hanyu pinyin.
However, after a little linguistics training and some thinking, I realized the ‘d’ in Donghai and and the ”b’ in Taibei were not English initial d’s and b’s. Let’s take ‘t’ for example. In English as well as in some Chinese words, ‘t’ is pronounced the English way. It is voiceless (no throat rattle), but aspirated (might blow out a small candle). On the other hand, “d” in English is voiced (throat rattle) and not aspirated (will not affect a small candle flame). They are both made in the same area of the mouth.
However, the ‘t’ in Tunghai and well as the ‘d’ in Donghai, are t’s without the aspiration. They sound like the light English “d” that you might hear in ‘later’ or ladder.” Therefore, English has the sound in the middle of words, and that is where you can begin practicing them.
The same goes for ‘b’ as is ‘baba.’ It is not the ‘b’ in boy. It is the ‘b’ in ‘rubber’ or ‘robber.” The ‘g’ is as in ‘gege” in the ‘g’ in ‘goat.’ It is the ‘g’ in ‘logger’ or ‘beggar.’
So if you are speaking Chinese with English ‘b,’ ‘d’, and ‘g,” your Chinese sounds heavy! LIGHTEN UP!
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These sounds are between what we write as “b” and “t”, that’s why I find it ridiculous, when some hanyu pinyin fanatics want Taipei to be written as Taibei. I believe the latter is a worse transliteration and I truly dislike this Romanization system full of flaws. What my wife taught me is that you shape your lips as you would want to pronounce a “b”, but actually you say “p” and then you’ll get the correct Chinese pronunciation. Maybe we should start writing it as “Taibpei” :)
Many people feel the same way about Hanyu Pinyin. They dislike it because they think it promotes English language interference with the learning of Chinese. However, although it is written with the Roman alphabet, its symbols do NOT represent English sounds. They represent words in Chinese. In fact, the International Phonetic System uses English letters and other symbols to write all kinds of languages. It is understood by many linguists around the world. Hanyu pinyin is not based on that system, either.
However, for very beginners, if they use an English “b,” “d,” or “g” for a Chinese “b, d, or g,” it’s okay. First, they can make them easily. Second, although their language will sound a little heavy to the Chinese, everyone will understand them and most people won’t even notice. Pronunciation, like dancing and signing, doesn’t happen over night. Dancing develops with muscle strength, flexibility, and balance. Music develops with ear training, rhythm, and breath control. None of it happens over night. So we can give hanyu pinyin a break. It does get beginners speaking pretty quickly. If you look at my Youtube lessons, there are only a limited number of symbols that the native English speaker beginning Chinese really has to learn in order to get started and get understood. The others (the approximates) will suffice temporarily. The ear must be trained before the tongue. If you can’t hear it, you can’t say it. I think we can leave the refinements to later, though many will disagree. Pronunciation is frustrating and teachers can make it even more so. I dropped German because of the ‘c’ sound ‘ts’ and umlaut sound. I dropped Japanese because my teacher MA- ME-MEI-MU-MOed me to death for two weeks. And when I ran an English school, I had to watch my ESL teachers to make sure they didn’t demand perfection at first. It was the fastest way to run my paying students away!!!! I say let some things slip and start talking and communicating first. If the Chinese don’t understand them, they will change.
On the other hand, I think little reminders now and then about these sounds and refinements in the sounds are necessary over a course of 3 or 5 years of Chinese. Sooner or later the learner will be able to hear them and able to make them. Let these reminder be around for them when they are ready. Your comments help this happen. Thank you. We don’t want mispronunciations to be “frozen” there.
How about “type a?” Sounds right. If written, then some confusion may set in.
Thanks James – this is really quite useful – there are still some sounds that I do find tricky and this is a good idea – showing / focusing on the person’s mouth as they’re making all the various sounds.
I have also had embarassing things happen when I voiced my ‘k’ sound much harder like a ‘g’ in English.
Another one I still have difficulty with is the ‘c’ as in cai4. Any tips on that one? :)
Lastly the second video shows no footage but audio is fine – is that the intention?
Yes, it was one of the earliest “tongue tips” I wrote because it gave me such a headache in the beginning. You can find it ‘c’ and ‘z’ here. I also have a Youtube lesson on ‘c’ and ‘z.’ There is a part A and B of that video, if you want some practice. As for the no footage audio film. it was all I could find. It drives me a a little bananas, but someone at the very, very beginning MIGHT want to practice it a little.
Just wanted to say thank you for the links you supplied. I am glad that I have come to know about your blog. The content is really interesting and you give valuable advice. :)
Thanks again!